Accounting 101 will be the same at a community college, the state U, and the Ivy League. What’s different are the STUDENTS and the overall atmosphere on camups. Community colleges are commuter schools that cater mostly to part-time students who also work. Many – though not all – will not be academically accomplished. The Ivies are generally tight knit communities of highly motivated, often intellectually inclined, ambitious students. They’re there in part because they want to learn from other ambitious and motivated students.
So while you’ll learn the basics of accounting in all three types of environments, what you learn in addition, and the contacts you’ll make, varies greatly. The difference may be intangible – or very real (such as, the ability to work with a Nobel-prize winning professor. Or meeting Zuckerberg in the course of your CS courses and getting an inside track for a job at Facebook.)
Yet, in New York City, “most” Jews and Asians attend CUNY institutions (Brooklyn, Queens, Baruch, CCNY, etc.).
Trying to compare outcomes by comparing Community Colleges with Ivy League schools is quite shortsighted. How can you possibly compare 2-year and 4-year Colleges? What I am prepared to support is that a committed student who attends a 2-year Community College and then transfer to a “good” 4-year University can approximate the education that he or she could get at an Ivy League school.
I also think that Community Colleges have come a long way in the caliber of students they attract and the resources they garner from the State. One of my kids took close 50 Dual Enrollment credits at a local Community College and I was very surprised at their IT infrastructure and available CS courses, the Science Labs, along with the text book material (often times, only available to CC students) that their students used. Community Colleges these days have a good mix of very talented students and those that require a lot of remedial work. I also agree that the quality of Community Colleges varies from State to State or even intra-state.
Ultimately I reckon the Elephant in the room is the expectation that our kids will become that much more successful or have a better life for being accepted to and attending a top tier educational institution. This is ultimately why there is so much status associated with going to one of these schools. From an employer’s point of view its also a screening tool so that they only spend time considering applicants of the highest intellectual caliber. Of course there are always exceptions. There are plenty of super talented and exceptionally smart people who never go to a top tier college or sometimes even go to college. However, when you are trying to narrow down applicants, using the college filter is probably the easiest and most widely used barometer for job placement and success. Of course there are exceptions but still this is the reason for the implied status regarding the top schools.
I think some parents also want to spend some of their money on a nice school with smart peers and lots of support and a great potential for personal growth and making connections rather than say a new Lexus. If this school is high status, and there is a perceived value, so much the better. Almost all the high status schools are very nice places to spend 4 years and get a good education.
Regardless of the nice new labs at the CC or honors dorms at flagship or the almost like a private LA school, these aren’t quite as nice.
Considering that the top schools actually do spend a lot more per student, there is a difference in value (unless they just are building water parks for every dorm, but I think that is another thread … and some kids might really, really enjoy that water park and daddy can spend).
If you can get 50% of people to fork over the full $70K and have a nice endowment, you can now open up FA to the rest of your applicant pool.
“the college filter is probably the easiest and most widely used barometer for job placement”
True, but usually only in the beginning of a person’s career. 5-10 years after graduation, your professional accomplishment will be the essential measurement, not your school.
As an employer, it does not matter from whence the degree was conferred. (within reason) There is fundamentally no difference between a ‘Prestigious’ school and an otherwise competent school when you are out in the work world. For select micro-fields you may find a preference for certain institutions, but it really boils down to your degree and your interview. In some cases, going to the prestigious school could be a disadvantage. There are considerably more alumni from, say, Illinois than from any one Ivy. Hiring managers often lean toward those from their own alma maters. (all else being equal)
Ultimately, people love to validate their own decisions. Those who went to Ivies think that their education was exponentially better than that from, say, Minnesota. I don’t know that I could bring places like (most) community colleges or ITT/Phoenix or their lot into the same discussion. To me, community colleges are good to save money as a bridge into a ‘real’ school. Your degree still states the name of the conferring instituion. There is no asterisk for those who started at a cc. In my experience, there is a vast difference from school to school, state to state and classroom to classroom. Some cc’s may not adequately prepare you for tougher schools. Some are actually tougher than some of the school to which someone would transfer.
“As an employer, it does not matter from whence the degree was conferred. (within reason) There is fundamentally no difference between a ‘Prestigious’ school and an otherwise competent school when you are out in the work world.”
I depends on the job. Goldman Sachs would never interview someone from Illinois State unless there was a hook or connection. Meanwhile, Goldman recruits actively from Ivys + Stanford, MIT etc… and leading LACs. Arguably 10 years out I would agree that its your job accomplishments that will determine your next career move, but sometimes just getting in to some of the best jobs its all about the school you are going to. I am sure there are other high paying positions that could hire you from a mediocre State school that has a strong program in some particular field, but its not going to be a blanket seal of approval. If you go to Harvard and you major in ethnomusicology and you have an interest in finance, you can probably get your resume looked at by someone at Goldman, just saying… if you went to State XYZ and had a 4.0 in finance chances are the Goldman guy would just toss your CV in the circular file. Been there. Done that.